Sam
Schmidt Motorsports in Top Five at Infineon
Rookie Drivers Finish 5th, 6th and 12th
SONOMA, Calif. -
Sam Schmidt Motorsports snagged another top-five finish in
the Menards Infiniti Pro Series debut Sunday at Infineon
Raceway. The road course race was won by Marco Andretti,
winner of all three road course races this season.
Chris Festa
started fifth for the Sonoma 100. At the drop of the green
flag, Festa and teammate Jaime Camara made some strong moves
to pull up to third and fourth, respectively. Nineteen
year-old Festa, of Atlanta, Ga., finished the day in fifth
place. He remains sixth in points with 304.
|
SONOMA 100 RACE MENARDS INFINITI
PRO SERIES RESULTS |
| Pos |
No |
Driver
Name |
Best Time |
Best Speed |
Best Lap |
Total Laps |
| 1 |
26 |
Marco
Andretti |
1:25.1458 |
97.245 |
26 |
30 |
| 2 |
33 |
Wade
Cunningham |
1:25.1146 |
97.281 |
18 |
30 |
| 3 |
24 |
Jeff
Simmons |
1:24.6274 |
97.841 |
22 |
30 |
| 4 |
9 |
Nick
Bussell |
1:24.9705 |
97.446 |
27 |
30 |
|
5 |
19 |
Chris Festa |
1:25.4116 |
96.942 |
26 |
30 |
| 6 |
7 |
Travis
Gregg |
1:27.0751 |
95.090 |
24 |
30 |
| 7 |
4 |
Marty
Roth |
1:27.4771 |
94.653 |
28 |
30 |
| 8 |
20 |
Jay
Drake |
1:28.9122 |
93.126 |
19 |
29 |
| 9 |
6 |
Jon Herb |
1:27.7871 |
94.319 |
28 |
29 |
| 10 |
22 |
Scott
Mansell |
1:25.4798 |
96.865 |
19 |
24 |
| 11 |
3 |
Bobby
Wilson |
1:25.4996 |
96.843 |
21 |
24 |
| 12 |
1 |
Jaime
Camara |
1:27.6985 |
94.414 |
3 |
4 |
| 13 |
11 |
Scott
Mayer |
-0.0001 |
0.000 |
0 |
0 |
Gregg did what
he needed to do with the #7 Lucas Oil Special/Sam Schmidt
Motorsports entry, keeping it on track, and advancing from
his ninth-place start to a sixth-place finish. The Camden,
Ohio, driver remains second in the points chase with 378.
Jaime Camara, a
Brazilian who now lives in Miami, Fla., started sixth,
pulled to fourth, then pulled off the track on lap four with
engine woes for the second week in a row. Camara, 12th
in the #1 CELG/Goias Sam Schmidt Motorsports, dropped to
fifth in the series standings with 329 points.
"The start of
the race was good. We made up a lot of ground but over the
long haul, the car just wasn't quite what I needed," said
Festa, who heads back to school at Florida State University
upon his return to Atlanta.
Gregg, needed to
keep his car on track and run a clean race. He got the job
done.
"I picked up
three positions from my starting spot. It kept us in the
points chase, and we're heading to Chicagoland for our next
race. Sam Schmidt Motorsports has a strong record at that
track, so it's nice to head from here into a 'known'
situation where we can be go in with a lot of confidence,"
said Gregg.
Camara's day
ended early when he had some mechanical trouble with his
race car.
"At the start, I
was thinking we had a good car and we could make up for our
troubles last week in Colorado. It didn't work out that
way. We had engine trouble on just the fourth lap. It's
disappointing, but it's part of racing. We'll just be ready
for Chicagoland," said Camara.
Sam Schmidt
knows his road course program will continue to develop.
"We did what we
needed to do in the points race, we kept the points leader
within striking distance," said Schmidt. "Travis did a good
job keeping the car clean. He knew he couldn't make any big
mistakes and he didn't. All the Menards Infiniti Pro Series
teams are facing the same learning curve at the road
courses, and as a group, I think we're all making strong
gains. Chicagoland is next and it should be a good weekend
for us. We won the pole and the race last year, and the Sam
Schmidt Paralysis Foundation will host Day At The Races in
Chicago - that's always a treat for me."
Sunday's 100-lap
race will be televised on a tape-delayed basis on ESPN 2 at
3 p.m. (EDT), on Thursday, Sept 1.
The next Menards
Infiniti Pro Series race is the 12th of the
14-race season. The Chicagoland 100 will be held on Sunday,
Sept. 11, at Chicagoland Speedway, the 1.5-mile D-shaped
oval located in Joliet, Ill.
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FOR FURTHER
INFORMATION: Williams Company of America, Inc. (704)
660-0796
;
